Minister of Education Approves the Unified Regulatory Framework for the Educational Process
Faisal Matar: Education Minister Jalal Al-Tabatabai has officially approved the “Comprehensive Regulatory Framework for Education in the Ministry of Education” in its final version, with its provisions to take effect from the date of the issuance of the ministerial decree. This makes it the single, unified regulatory reference for all aspects of the educational process.
The approval of the framework followed the completion of its preparation and review stages, as well as consultations with experts and professionals in the educational field, in line with the Ministry’s strategy to develop the regulatory framework for the educational process, enhance institutional stability, and organize various aspects of educational work based on a unified reference that reflects the reality of schools and their needs.
The preparation stages included reviewing existing systems, regulations, and documents, and studying their implementation, alongside holding consultative and specialized meetings with relevant sectors and leveraging the expertise of specialists and educational practitioners. The Ministry also presented the initial draft to field professionals and solicited their opinions and proposals through its website last June, before refining the content to reach the final version.
Al-Tabatabai stated that issuing the framework marks a new phase in organizing educational and administrative work, reflecting the Ministry’s direction toward building a clearer and more stable system based on unified rules that precisely define roles, responsibilities, rights, and obligations within the school community. He added that the framework is the result of collective and institutional efforts, involving working groups, specialized sectors, and field professionals through continuous technical, legal, and educational reviews, as well as specialized discussions that tested the proposed provisions in light of the actual reality of schools and the needs of their staff.
He emphasized that the new framework transitions the educational process from a multiplicity of documents, regulations, and directives to a single, integrated regulatory reference, repealing previous documents and regulations that it replaces. This eliminates regulatory duplication, enhances the stability of decisions, and clarifies procedures during implementation.
He clarified that the learner is at the center of the development process, through updating assessment and evaluation systems, strengthening school discipline, organizing the learning environment, safeguarding rights and defining duties, as well as enhancing school-family partnership and activating educational, social, and psychological roles. He noted that a clear reference enables learners to know their rights and duties, parents to fulfill their roles, teachers to understand their responsibilities, and school administrations to exercise their authorities and procedures, thereby contributing to a fairer, more stable, and efficient learning environment.
Al-Tabatabai stressed that the issuance of the framework does not mark the end of the development project, but rather the beginning of the implementation, monitoring, and impact assessment phase in the field. He affirmed that its success will be measured by its impact on school reality, its contribution to improving the educational process, enhancing performance efficiency, and strengthening discipline, responsibility, and educational quality.
The Ministry of Education clarified that the framework consists of 22 chapters covering various components of the educational process, starting with the principles governing educational work and kindergarten, passing through primary, intermediate, and secondary stages, religious education, and extending to registration, transfers, school systems, social and psychological services, activities, school media, distance learning, the learning environment, examinations, behavior, and professional discipline.
It indicated that the preparation process saw a 100 percent update of the kindergarten stage regulations, an 87 percent update of the school system regulations, a 70 percent update for both the primary stage and religious education, and a 65 percent update for both the intermediate and secondary stages.
The framework includes provisions that consider the characteristics of each educational stage, relating to academic plans, standards, assessment tools, grade distribution, projects, attendance, absences, and examination violations, as well as organizing children’s rights, the role of the family, inclusion of students with disabilities, and distance learning.
In the secondary stage, the framework distributes the student’s grade in each semester as 40 percent for semester work and continuous assessments, and 60 percent for the final semester exam. Semester work is divided into 25 points for student work and 15 points for short tests. Student work grades include 6 for participation, 6 for assignments, 6 for behavior, and 7 for the project.
The framework adopted the numerical points and verbal description system (GPA), which converts student grades into achievement levels and numerical points, starting from four points for an “A+” grade for scores between 97 and 100. It also approved the application of the cumulative grade point average for the secondary stage with weights of 10 percent for the tenth grade, 20 percent for the eleventh grade, and 70 percent for the twelfth grade. If a student fails and then passes the grade in a subsequent year, the GPA is calculated based only on the year of passing, without the previous failure affecting it.
Regarding school discipline, the framework classified behavioral violations into four levels: minor, moderate, severe, and serious, linking them to graduated corrective measures appropriate to the nature of the violation and the educational stage, based on principles of justice, equality, verification, and educational, preventive, and therapeutic approaches, while avoiding corporal punishment and hurtful language.
The framework also organized the roles of the Behavioral Discipline Committee, the School System Council, social and psychological services, handling special cases, learning difficulties, and health cases, as well as examination administration, control office work, appeals, professional ethics, and violations by teaching and administrative staff, including leave regulations, thereby enhancing the stability of the learning environment and work efficiency within schools.
